Keep those dogies rollin’ in Goodland Celebrate Independence Day by turning back the clock to the 1870s and 1880s and the great cattle drives. The cattle and cowboys will ride again July 4, 2015, down Main Street in Goodland north to Sherman County fairgrounds. He plans to drive a herd of longhorn…

From slave to soldier to homesteader Born a slave in Hawkins County, Tenn., William Johnson was assigned his master’s name. He died a free man Friday, June 13, 1890, three miles northeast of Goodland. He is buried in the Old Veteran’s Plot of Goodland Cemetery. When his original master died, Johnson was transferred…

Six stones in Goodland Cemetery read “Unknown U.S. Soldier”. Goodland is far away from any Civil War battlefield. How did these six soldiers come to Goodland? Did battle wounds or disease claim them? No one seems to know. Who they were, where and how they died is a mystery. In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln…

A year ago, the ugly red fingers of Extreme Drought reached out of Oklahoma into Western Kansas. Now those fingers are turning a more friendly color. “Wettest” records have been toppling. On May 19, 1.55 inches of rain fell in Goodland. That mark doubled the previous 0.79 set back in 1935. The rain pushed Goodland’s current…

Republican River flood waters around McCook, Neb. (Video has no audio.) The Great Republican River Flood In May 1935, the middle of the Dust Bowl, at least 24 inches of rain in 24 hours crashed to the earth along the South Fork of the Republican in Eastern Colorado. Light rains fell in Northwest Kansas. Those…

As America struggled to climb out of the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s administration explored ways to create jobs. One of these programs, The Treasury Section for Painting and Sculpture, employed artists to produce public art. Those public artworks included the mural “Rural Free Delivery” in the Goodland Post Office, 124 E. 11th Street. This is…

Enjoy a picnic in the park Cally Krallman‘s painting on an easel in Chambers Park was unveiled (PDF) June 28, 2014. The painting is Chambers Park’s entry in the Art in the Parks program. It portrays a couple from bygone days enjoying a picnic in Chambers Park with Victory Fountain and Ennis-Handy House in…

Equal rights at the ballot box The fight for women’s voting rights in Kansas was a slow process. Goodland helped show the way to equal rights when its citizens voted for a library tax in 1909. Kansas women had gained the right to vote in 1861, but only in school board elections. Voting in…

Unsolved mysteries at the library Turn left at the Goodland Public Library‘s check-in desk and go all the way to the back to find the Kansas Room. Look to the left to see the oil painting, The Gleaners, that covers nearly the entire west wall. Painting’s origin has a mystery around it.…

Entering the Mountain Time Warp Interstate 70 westbound and Highway 27 southbound bend as they enter Sherman County. Why? Because those roads cross an invisible boundary, an entrance into another time dimension, the Mountain Time Zone. Yes, Kansas does span two time zones. Four counties in Kansas are on Mountain Time, which makes sense.…